Saving a life
by Upside-Down Carrot
Summary: The Doctor needs help saving his son, and he may know somebody that can help. If there were more character slots it would say River and Pepper too.


The Doctor was pacing in circles around the room, talking to himself. He bit his lip as he went around and around. He had to think of something. He had to find a way to save him.

River was laying in her bed, worrying about her baby. Three days prior, she had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. At first, he seemed healthy, but his health began to deteriorate only minutes after his birth. River's human plus genes mixed with the Doctor's Time Lord genes had caused problems. Big problems.

The Doctor watched his tiny son sleep. He did not look peaceful at all. He was inside of a glass case that had a machine attached to it. That machine, was keeping him alive. His puny hearts would not cooperate with his human genes. The Human-Time Lord mutation was too much, much more than River. His little hearts would not work properly. If the Doctor removed the machine for more than twenty minutes, his little son would surly die.

The Doctor and River Song had not chosen a name. They did not want to until he was healthy. They feared that if they named him, they would not be able to accept his death, if that were to happen. The Doctor really hadn't given much thought to a name, he only knew that he loved his child more than anything in the Universe, and he would do anything to save his life.

The baby had been born premature. Time Lord babies develop differently than human babies. For a Time Lord fetus, the last thing to mature are its hearts. A normal Time Lord pregnancy lasts eleven months. River Song's pregnancy, on the other hand, was not like this. Her human body thought the fetus would only take nine months to develop, so, after nine months, with still two months to go, she went into labor.

It was nothing the Doctor could stop. He knew the baby had to be delivered, at that it would be very sick. The baby was delivered, and he looked healthy at the start, but a scan of his hearts showed otherwise. He was still much to small to survive in the world. He was put into a box and hooked up to a machine. River Song went into a state of shock, and refused to see her son until he was better. The Doctor had tried to get her to at least see him, but she refused.

He gently placed his hand inside of the glass box that held his tiny son. He had only been nine inches long when he was born, and he was very frail. The Doctor carefully and slowly put his finger into the hand of his son, and the tiny hand grasped his finger firmly. The Doctor smiled at this. He decided that River must see her son, and that maybe seeing him would cure her madness.

The Doctor lifted River up out of her bed and carried her in his arms. He brought her to the room where their son was held. She tried to escape, but as hard as she tried, she could not. The Doctor stood her in front of the glass box that her son was in.

"Explain to me River Song, explain to me how you could turn your back on your son, your tiny, dying, fragile son? Look at him. Just look at him!"

The Doctor's eyes began to tear up, and so did River's. She widened her eyes as she realized what she had done.

"Oh my poor son!" she exclaimed. She gently put her hand in the box next to her son and stroked his head. She smiled. It was the first time she had touched her son. "Can I hold him?"

"No, he is much to fragile."

"Oh, my poor baby. Doctor, you must know a way to save him? You must!"

The Doctor was pacing again, whilst River stroked the head of their child. An idea suddenly popped into his head, an idea so crazy, so insane, yet so…perfect. He ran out of the room and into the console room. He immediately started to flick levers and press buttons. He landed and ran out, leaving River and his son alone.

"So you mean to tell me, that you didn't just know my father, you told him the secrets?"

"Yes, it was I who gave the idea to your father. We were friends, and I knew much more than him at the time. He seemed so…so desperate for something he could create to help the world. I gave him the idea for the Arc technology, and I helped him build it. Now, I am asking for a favor of you, Tony Stark."

"So, it was you who developed the Arc?"

"Yes, but I only developed the basic concept. I have no idea how to build it. I need your help"

"And what will you give me in return?"

"Knowing that you saved a child's life, is there anything better than that?" said the Doctor. He knew it sounded cheesy. Pepper came downstairs.

"Mr. Stark, you have an appointment tonight, remember?"  
Tony walked over to her and kissed her on the lips.

"Why yes, I believe I do have an appointment with you tonight, Miss Potts."

"Tony, I was serious. You actually do have an appointment tonight. A real appointment."

"Cancel it. Tonight, I am building an Arc Reactor."

"But, Tony, why would you need another one? The one you have is working fine."

"It's not for me, it's for his son," he said, pointing at the Doctor

"Who is this?"

"I'm the Doctor. I helped Howard Stark create the Arc."

"Tony, how do you know he's not lying?" said Pepper. Tony shrugged his shoulders. The Doctor reached into his pocket and took out an old envelope.

"Your father told me that if I ever needed your help, to give you this," he said as he handed Tony the letter.

"Dear Tony,  
If you're reading this, I've probably been dead for a long time, and the Doctor needs your help. Believe me, you can trust him. He is a great man, and if he ever needs anything, I want you to help him in any way that you can. Thank you.  
Sincerely,  
Howard Stark"

Sparks flew everywhere. Tony had been working for days on the new power source for the Doctor's son, and it was finally finished. It was much smaller than his, about the size of a ping-pong ball** (A/N: You're ping is no match for my pong! Yeah, if you know what I'm talking about, you're awesome. Okay, back to the story)**, but it was as powerful as Tony's. The Doctor had been waiting for days. He normally sat in a chair and said nothing. He would always be stepping into his magical blue box to see his wife and son. Tony could tell he was very worried.

"Here Doc, it's finished. Now all you have to do is open him up and plug it in," said Tony, gently handing the Arc to the Doctor.

"No, you don't understand. I can't put this in him. We need somebody who can," replied the Doctor.

"Well, I don't know anybody who can!"

"Wait, I do," said the Doctor. He ran into the TARDIS and rapidly started to fill levers.

He landed in London. He ran out the door and inside of a building up to the front desk.

"Martha Jones, get her," he said to the receptionist.

"May I ask who you are?"

"I'm the Doctor, now get her," he said, and with that, the receptionist widened her eyes and immediately began to dial a phone number.

"Yes, hello, this is important. It's him. It's the Doctor." The woman put the phone down. Whoever was on the other line had hung up.

"Doctor? Is it you?"

"Martha, good. Tell me, do you have any experience in surgery?"

"Yeah loads, why? And what are you doing here? Your face…it's changed?"

"Yeah, I know, I do that. And I need help. Your help. Come with me."

"The TARDIS! It's changed too?" asked Martha as she stared at the blue box.

"Yeah, now, hold on," said the Doctor as he set the coordinates.

The TARDIS shook, but he turned on the blue stabilizers and it stopped. He ran to the medical bay.  
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked River. She looked at him.

"You…you used the stabilizers…"

"Yeah, so?"

"You never do that."

"I do now," said the Doctor.

Martha came in.  
"Okay, what do you need from me?" asked Martha.

"Martha this is River Song, River, this is Martha Jones," said the Doctor.

"I've heard about your work," said Martha and River at the same time. They both giggled, but then turned serious.

"And who, is this little fella in here?" Martha asked, pointing to their son.

"Oh, that's my son. That's what we need you for. I need you to open him up and connect this thingy to his heart," said the Doctor, as he fiddled with the Arc Reactor. The parts and tools were laid out on a table. Martha seemed to know what she was doing, and carefully began to operate.

"Okay, are you ready? If it doesn't work, there is nothing else we can do," said Martha, as she prepared to remove the baby from the machine. The Doctor and River nodded, and she carefully lifted the little baby from the case. She disconnected him from the machine, and monitored his hearts. He was doing just fine. She wrapped him in a blanket and gingerly gave him to River.

"Hi there, I'm your mum, and that is your dad. We are so glad you're okay," she said in a soft voice. They had tears in their eyes as they held their son for the first time. Martha came up to them.  
"Sorry to interrupt, but I just have to give him a quick shot. This will give him all of the nutrients he needs, since he's so small," she said as she gently pressed the needle in. "And there we go! Perfectly healthy! I'll be going now."

"Thank you, Martha," said the Doctor as she walked out the door.

River sat in the old torn up chair in the console room, holding her little baby. They were on their way to Tony's place, to thank him for his help. The Doctor opened the door for his wife as she slowly walked outside. Tony was working on one of his cars.

"Hey, Tony. We just came by to thank you. Thank you for saving our sons life," said the Doctor. Pepper came downstairs. She looked at the baby and smiled. She then turned to Tony.

"Tony, appointment, remember? Oh but there's something I have to tell you before you go," said Pepper.

"Sorry, no time Miss Potts, gotta fly," said Tony as he started to suit up.

"Hey, by the way, did you guys choose a name?" asked Pepper. River started to shake her head, but the Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, his name is Tony."

"Aw, how sweet, you named your son after me. Well, I really have to go, so bye," said Tony as his helmet came down. River and the Doctor went into the TARDIS and flew away. Tony stood there, staring at Pepper.

"Whatever it is you have to tell me, I'll be back soon," he said. Pepper began to speak, but Tony flew away.

"Tony! Wait…I, you're going to be a father…" she said as he flew away, but she didn't think he noticed.

THE END

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm kind of in an Iron Man phase right now, so this is the result. And that thing with Pepper at the end, I had to, I just had to. But, I will not be continuing this, no matter how much you beg. So, yeah, leave me a review! Byeeeee!  
With lots of love,  
Macie  
Stay Flamin'!**


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